Agency Trading Desks (ATD) Dominate Programmatic advertising industry

Agency Trading Desks (ATD) Dominate Programmatic advertising industry

According to new research by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA). However, programmatic relationships continue to evolve as advertisers demand much greater control and transparency from their relationships with media partners and ad tech vendors.

The research found that nearly 90% of marketers are reviewing contracts and business models to deliver on these objectives.

The results are based on a survey of 59 WFA member companies representing 18 industry sectors with a total global ad spend in excess of $70 billion. All are spending increasing amounts of money on the programmatic channel; with an average of 16% of digital ad spend now dedicated to programmatic, compared to 10% in 2014.

Other findings:

Programmatic is most developed in North America, where it represents 23% of respondents’ digital spend, followed by Europe at 17%. Investment in China is lower, with programmatic responsible for just 12% of digital spend, although this is expected to grow, principally via private exchanges.

Agency trading desks continue to be the dominant model for programmatic ad buying, used by nearly 40% of the world’s biggest brands,